By Matt Patrick, Columnist
Students my age may barely remember the events of 12 years ago. Most of us were elementary school students who grew up in one of the most prosperous and peaceful times in American history.
The technology boom was creating thousands, if not millions of jobs. The federal budget was balanced. As we headed into a new century with seemingly endless potential, everything changed, all in one day.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, a few men committed a terrible act of violence.
They hijacked and flew two commercial jetliners into the ultimate symbols of American prosperity and economic dominance The World Trade Center.
At the end of the day, as we tried to sort through in our minds what happened, we realized something. Those buildings really aren’t all that important.
What is important are the thousands of lives taken away that morning. Dinner tables were missing people. Fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters were taken from so many families.
As America responded with military force, the nation and the Middle East became unstable.
Leaders pledged in 2001 and 2003 that we were taking military action to make the world safer for our children.
Those who were children in 2001 are the ones fighting in the conflict.
We have learned a lot from Sept. 11 and the mistakes and triumphs made afterward.
I think the most important lesson from Sept. 11 gets lost beneath the political rhetoric and major military events. New York City and the nation moved on without the World Trade Center, but the long-term agony is in the loss.
The resolve of the United States doesn’t lie in the deepness of our treasure coffers or in the might of our armed forces.
The resolve of the United States always will lie in the people.
We are the people of the United States, not the things of the United States.
Our ideals, hopes and dreams for liberty and justice for all people are the things that make us truly great. No amount of might and power can ever take the place of the things that make us Americans.
True greatness was in those who risked their lives on Sept. 11 and beyond for the lives of others.
True greatness lies in the helping hand to clean up and restore peace.
True greatness happens when the people of the United States serve those who have different beliefs and ideas.
We move beyond Sept. 11 by serving those less fortunate than us. We allow people to share ideas different from our own. We stand for justice here and abroad.
We move beyond by helping other countries receive clean water, food and adequate access to medicine. We move beyond by helping our elderly neighbor mow the lawn or take out the trash. We move beyond by loving our families and our children.
We move beyond Sept. 11 by putting the needs of others before our own.
That is what is truly great.
What if the new American dream in our era became not about working hard to create a comfortable life for you, but to work hard to provide for yourself and to serve others in our community and in our world with deep compassion?
That is how we will move on as Americans. Will you join me?
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